JLPT Level 2 Grammar
I'm sorry that's it's been so long since I've posted anything here, but I'm just not a blog person. Or a MySpace person. Or a FaceBook person, either.
Back to business.
JLPT Level 2 - Grammar: 日本語能力試験２級・文法
JLPT Level 2 Grammar Guide.
The JLPT is coming up and I've been studying pretty hard for it so far. This year will be my second attempt at getting level 2 and so far I'm on track.
When I started studying last year I found the lack of decent English learning materials for level 2 to be a real barrier, so I decided to compile all of the resources that I could find and put them together in a digital format so that they could be searched and updated by me as I went, and also so that they could be shared and maybe evolve into something else if the motivation took hold of me (which, beyond posting them here, looks unlikely).
The resources that I found to work with were as follows:
1. Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level Two Grammar Book
The Kanzen Master series are excellent study guides and this provides a point-by-point breakdown of the grammar points for level 2 along with a brief explanation and example sentences. The only problem - the grammar explanations are vague, and written entirely in Japanese.
2. An online JLPT grammar guide
This wasn't as descriptive when I started last year and seems to have improved a lot. Example sentences are a little scarce.
3. A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced
These are amazing reference books and have extensive explanations of grammar points, a large selection of example sentences and good cross-referencing for similar grammar. My only criticism is that there are many points in the level 2 grammar that are not included in any of the books, even in the most recent Advanced Grammar book.
4. JGram
JGram was a big help with a lot of points that weren't covered in the above grammar dictionaries, but the descriptions are often vague and I found the example sentences all very similar and often just copied straight from Jim Breen's online dictionary.
Combining all of these together and pestering Japanese and foreign friends to explain the problems that weren't covered by one or more of these different guides, I have managed to put together (what I think) is a good explanation for most of the level 2 grammar points, available here.
It follows the Kanzen Master book and includes all the example sentences, but has the addition of English translations for the grammar points and some additional notes where relevant/available.
When the grammar point is listed in the Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar, I have included the book and the page number underneath the grammar point title.
I tried to stick to regular formatting so that it would be searchable (for example with grep or if you wanted to turn it into XML) but I may have made mistakes here and there.
The format is a unicode txt file.
I used EditPlus2 (normally used for coding but equally suitable for txt files) for writing and printing - I found the the line numbers on the printed pages and the ability to format each document in the same font without imbedding it in the file very useful.
If there are any spelling mistakes (Japanese or English) or if you have any notes or comments, please post them here and I will happily incorporate them into the document.
I hope that this can be of service to someone other than myself in the great battle against the Japanese language that a small army of us continue to wage every day. Through the power of grammar, bolstered by the artilliary of decent kanji knowledge, I have every faith that we will be victorious and finally convince Japanese people that foreigners have brains too.
Back to business.
JLPT Level 2 - Grammar: 日本語能力試験２級・文法
JLPT Level 2 Grammar Guide.
The JLPT is coming up and I've been studying pretty hard for it so far. This year will be my second attempt at getting level 2 and so far I'm on track.
When I started studying last year I found the lack of decent English learning materials for level 2 to be a real barrier, so I decided to compile all of the resources that I could find and put them together in a digital format so that they could be searched and updated by me as I went, and also so that they could be shared and maybe evolve into something else if the motivation took hold of me (which, beyond posting them here, looks unlikely).
The resources that I found to work with were as follows:
1. Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level Two Grammar Book
The Kanzen Master series are excellent study guides and this provides a point-by-point breakdown of the grammar points for level 2 along with a brief explanation and example sentences. The only problem - the grammar explanations are vague, and written entirely in Japanese.
2. An online JLPT grammar guide
This wasn't as descriptive when I started last year and seems to have improved a lot. Example sentences are a little scarce.
3. A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced
These are amazing reference books and have extensive explanations of grammar points, a large selection of example sentences and good cross-referencing for similar grammar. My only criticism is that there are many points in the level 2 grammar that are not included in any of the books, even in the most recent Advanced Grammar book.
4. JGram
JGram was a big help with a lot of points that weren't covered in the above grammar dictionaries, but the descriptions are often vague and I found the example sentences all very similar and often just copied straight from Jim Breen's online dictionary.
Combining all of these together and pestering Japanese and foreign friends to explain the problems that weren't covered by one or more of these different guides, I have managed to put together (what I think) is a good explanation for most of the level 2 grammar points, available here.
It follows the Kanzen Master book and includes all the example sentences, but has the addition of English translations for the grammar points and some additional notes where relevant/available.
When the grammar point is listed in the Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar, I have included the book and the page number underneath the grammar point title.
I tried to stick to regular formatting so that it would be searchable (for example with grep or if you wanted to turn it into XML) but I may have made mistakes here and there.
The format is a unicode txt file.
I used EditPlus2 (normally used for coding but equally suitable for txt files) for writing and printing - I found the the line numbers on the printed pages and the ability to format each document in the same font without imbedding it in the file very useful.
If there are any spelling mistakes (Japanese or English) or if you have any notes or comments, please post them here and I will happily incorporate them into the document.
I hope that this can be of service to someone other than myself in the great battle against the Japanese language that a small army of us continue to wage every day. Through the power of grammar, bolstered by the artilliary of decent kanji knowledge, I have every faith that we will be victorious and finally convince Japanese people that foreigners have brains too.
